Netflix Orders a Sixth Season of ‘The Crown’

In a surprise announcement, Netflix has greenlit royal-themed drama “The Crown” for a sixth season. The original plan was to conclude after five seasons.

“As we started to discuss the storylines for series five, it soon became clear that in order to do justice to the richness and complexity of the story we should go back to the original plan and do six seasons,” creator Peter Morgan said in a statement. “To be clear, series 6 will not bring us any closer to present-day—it will simply enable us to cover the same period in greater detail. So don’t expect to see storylines pertaining to Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, on your screen.”

The first two seasons of “The Crown” starred Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II, with her passing the throne to Olivia Colman for season three and four. When Netflix announced that the show would end with Season five — which is no longer the case — they also revealed Imelda Staunton would be portraying the queen for the final installment. Now Staunton will be playing the royal lead for both seasons five and six, with Lesley Manville recently cast as her sister, Princess Margaret, a role currently filled by Helena Bonham Carter.